{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O117657"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O117657/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM1365/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM1365/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM1365","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O117657","accessionNumber":"LOAN:LITTLE NESS.1:1","objectType":"Communion cup and paten","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This cup and paten were used in post-Reformation Protestant worship to serve the consecrated wine and bread during Holy Communion. \r\n\r\nDuring the Reformation there was a return to a simpler, more direct form of worship. Protestants rejected the Roman Catholic belief in 'transubstantiation', in which the bread and wine are miraculously transformed during the Mass into the body and blood of Christ, and proposed instead a symbolic service of shared communion. In this, the congregation would regularly take wine as well as bread, whereas before they had been chiefly spectators.\r\n\r\nTo consolidate this break with traditional religion, the church authorities launched a programme from about 1560 to replace the 'old massing chalices' with 'decent' communion cups of prescribed design. However, although this cup was made during the period of refashioning (1560 to about 1575), its design is not standard and instead looks back to the designs of the late 1550s.","physicalDescription":"Communion cup, silver, with a rounded gently flaring bowl engraved with a parcel-gilt inscription. The stem is divided by a frilled flange. Above the flange the stem is narrow, below is a round bulbous section sitting on a wider trumpet stem leading up from the round stepped foot. The accompanying footed paten is also parcel-gilt and inscribed 'RR' on the foot.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"Silver-gilt","id":"x37998"}],"techniques":[{"text":"raising","id":"AAT237068"},{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53829"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver, parcel-gilt, raised and engraved","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AM1365"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"84","id":"THES49710"},"free":"","case":"CA6A","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"84","id":"THES49710"},"free":"","case":"CA6A","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Communion cup","id":""}],[{"text":"cover (closure)","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1565-1566","earliest":"1565-05-19","latest":"1566-05-18"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Lent by the Parochial Church Council of St Martin, Little Ness, Shropshire","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"92","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"110","unit":"mm","qualifier":"of paten lid","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Maker's mark HW, unidentified, on cup","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"The bowl of the cup inscribed: THE CHAPELL OF LYTELL NESS ANNO DNI 1565","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"The chapel of Little Ness, the year of our Lord 1565","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"The Reformation in England\r\nOn the eve of the Reformation, churchgoing in England was a colourful, sensory experience, rich in ceremony. In the 1530s, however, Henry VIII threw off the authority of the pope. Under his successor Edward VI (reigned 1547-53) major changes in worship and church decoration were introduced. \r\n\r\nEnglish Reformers wanted a return to a simpler, more direct form of worship. Their boldest move was to reject the Roman Catholic belief in 'transubstantiation', in which the bread and wine are miraculously transformed during the Mass into the body and blood of Christ. They proposed instead a symbolic service of shared communion, conducted in interiors stripped of distracting furnishings and images. The congregation would play an active role in the communion, regularly taking wine as well as bread, whereas before they had been chiefly spectators.\r\n\r\nCrown commissioners confiscated or destroyed much of the goldsmiths' work of the medieval church. Some parishes concealed or sold their silver before the commissioners arrived, but by the early 1550s, many were left with just a single cup and paten. Some churches had no precious metal at all.\r\n\r\nConsolidation\r\nThe success of the Reformation by 1600 owed much to an ingrained culture of obedience to the crown. During the brief reign of Mary I (1553-8) England returned to Catholicism, but under Elizabeth I it swung back to Protestantism, spurred on by state propaganda that Catholicism represented a political threat. Even so, this rupture with the past met with quiet resistance as many people were attached to the old faith and its trappings.\r\n\r\nTo consolidate this break with traditional religion, the church authorities launched a programme from about 1560 to replace the 'old massing chalices' with 'decent' communion cups of prescribed design. This gave a massive boost to the goldsmiths' trade and the great demand led to the formal establishment of assay offices outside London, at Chester, York, Norwich and Exeter. About 2000 communion cups from the period survive.","briefDescription":"Silver, parcel-gilt, London hallmarks for 1565-6, mark of HW","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Maker's mark HW, unidentified","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Two Communion Cups and Patens\r\n\r\nThis cup was used in Protestant worship to serve the consecrated wine during Holy Communion. \r\n\r\nDuring the Reformation there was a return to a simpler, more direct form of worship. Protestants rejected the Roman Catholic belief in ‘transubstantiation’, in which the bread and wine are miraculously transformed during the Mass into the body and blood of Christ, and proposed instead a symbolic service of shared communion. In this, the congregation would regularly take wine as well as bread, whereas before they had been chiefly spectators.\r\n\r\nTo consolidate this break with traditional religion, the church authorities launched a programme from about 1560 to replace the ‘old massing chalices’ with ‘decent’ communion cups of prescribed design, such as this. Although this cup was made during the period of refashioning, its design is not standard and instead looks back to the earliest designs of the 1540s and 1550s. \r\n\r\n\r\nLondon, England, 1565; maker’s mark ‘HW’. Silver,\r\npartly gilded\r\nOn loan from the Parochial Church Council of\r\nSt Martin, Little Ness, Shropshire","date":{"text":"22/11/2005","earliest":"2005-11-22","latest":"2005-11-22"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:LITTLE NESS.1:1","LOAN:LITTLE NESS.1"],"accessionNumberNum":"1","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:LITTLE NESS","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","cover (closure)","Communion cup"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-22","recordCreationDate":"2005-10-14","availableToBook":false}}